The .CAT Foundation is the officially responsible for the ccTLD (Country Code Top-Level Domain) .CAT. Since I have registered the domain miquel.us, I thought it would be really awesome to be able to register miquel.cat, even though I was pretty sure it would be already registered. Once I checked I could confirm it was actually registered but, surprisingly, it wasn’t being used. I have to say I felt quite mad, not about the fact of not being able to register this domain name (I never really thought it would be available) but because of it not being used despite being registered. It ended being kind of good because that gave me the idea to register mql.cat and create a URL Shortener. Anyway, the point is I ended sending an e-mail to the .CAT Foundation to let them know about this, because I understand it is against the .CAT regulations as shown in their website. I didn’t really think they would pay any attention to my comments and wasn’t even expecting a reply, but I’m glad to know I was wrong since I got an e-mail from them and I’m thankful for that. This is their e-mail:

“Dear Miquel,

Thank you for your message.

We apologize about the delay on our reply, but this was quite a special case and we had to evaluate it.

We have delegated this case to our legal department, and we’re trying to process a possible breach of agreement.

Sincerely,

User service support

dotCAT Foundation.”

Update on July 21st 2014: The domain miquel.cat is working correctly now, even though it shows a page in Spanish instead of the Catalan version of the site. Anyway, I guess after the heads up they decided to fix the issue. At least it’s something.

Living in Barcelona, I never got used to driving a car. I always used public transport; the metro, train, bus, tram or taxi (which was a last resort because of the price, of course). Actually, even though I had a driver’s license, I didn’t have a car. Since I’ve arrived here I’ve been driving habitually, even so, I wasn’t used to driving long distance. The first road trip that I did was to go to Dallas to celebrate Thanksgiving with my in-laws (307 kms or 191 miles).

Some months ago I went on another road trip, this time mainly for burocracy. It turns out that to vote for the elections for the European Parliament, I had to register myself at the Spanish consulate in my zone of residence which is in Houston. I couldn’t register through internet, even having an ID that (having a chip and PIN for identifiction to be used as an electronic ID) would allow it. It’s only possible to register physically. So, in a country the size of the United States, I had to travel 716 kilometers (445 miles) from Oklahoma City to Houston. Actually double since it’s a round trip.

In any case, trying to take it positively, I decided to make it into a weekend to do some tourism and see a little bit of Houston and Galveston Island. On the road, we made a stop at Denton, Texas, a pretty town of approximately 100,000 habitants, where we enjoyed a cherry ice cream float with key lime pie ice cream, and vistited a large second hand book store.

The next day after getting to Houston, we went to The Galleria, a luxurious, gigantic, and spectacular mall full of shops, restaurants, and even an ice skating rink open all year round. We also visited a small park nearby called The Waterwall, which as the name indicates, it’s a wall with flowing water. We went around the city and vistited a Japanese garden inside of Hermann Park.

The next day we decided to visit the NASAspace center. I have to say that it’s a little too expensive for what you can see/do, but the tour where you can see the flight control room is worth it. If you plan on going there, I recommend to buy the entrance tickets online where you can get a small discount.

Then we went on the highway and went to Galveston Island, on the southwest of the Gulf of Mexico, which is a huge tourist attraction. Beach, bars, restaurants, the Historic Pleasure Pier (like the pier in Santa Monica), festive environment, but also calm. It was a perfect place to spend the day, eat some seafood, and completely disconnect.

In the end, despite the trip seeming like a headache to go to Houston just to inscribe at the consulate, in the end we took advantage of it and we really enjoyed ourselves. As they say, one who can’t find the good in the silver lining is because he doesn’t want to.

While I was in Catalonia, my name wasn’t an issue but, whenever I had to deal with someone from somewhere else (it doesn’t matter if it was the phone company or an individual), it was quite common to see my name incorrectly written. Sometimes using the Spanish version “Miguel” or even the basque “Mikel”, but rarely the correct way. Whenever possible I would correct the mistake but often I would simply ignore the wrong spelling and I would accept it as a minor mistake that wasn’t particularly annoying.

When I was born I was registered in the Spanish Civil Registry as Miguel, in Spanish, name I share with my paternal grandfather. Still, I never got to identify myself with that name. Most of my family members, my classmates, teachers, friends,… everyone always called me Miquel and, therefore, that is my name. Because of this, as soon as I became 18 years old, I went to the Registry to request my name to be changed to Miquel. At first this petition was denied, alleging I needed to proof my Catalonia’s continuous residency. It was quite a surprising resolution, really, first of all because that could lead me to the conclusion, quite stupidly, that moving outside of Catalonia I would lose my right to be called Miquel and, secondly, because it seems that the fact that my ID showed that I was born in Barcelona and, specially, my address was established in Reus, wasn’t enough to proof my Catalan vicinity. Anyway, after appealing and showing more proof that I was actually living in Catalonia, my request was finally approved and my name was officially changed to Miquel.

Now in the US, the name Miquel is, obviously, infrequent, unusual, rare and, apparently, surprising (not to talk about the fact of having two last names!!!). Every time someone asks my name and I say it, the same thing happens: a few seconds of doubt and a pronounciation attempt in an interrogative tone, or rather they ask me to repeat. The most common attempt is a dubious try like “Miguel?”, which is much more recognizable for them. My discreet way of being takes me to often agree as the easiest and fastest option, and allow them to call me Miguel, specially when it’s someone who I will probably never going to meet again but, deep inside, it bothers me. Actually, it bothers me more every time, so whenever I’m able to I insist, “Miquel”, and then I spell “M·I·Q·U·E·L”. Actually, sometimes, when someone asks my name I say straightaway; “Miquel, M·I·Q·U·E·L”; this way I don’t need to repeat, at least not every time. It might seem something silly and unimportant, but that is my name and not any other one, no matter how similar they are. A name doesn’t define you but it identifies you, it personalizes you and you internalize it. When you hear it, you instinctively turn around; and I do that when someone says “Miquel”, not when I hear “Miguel”, “Michael”, “Michel” or any other option.

Either way, I got to the conclusion that it is important to claim whenever I can that my name is Miquel. Which, on top, sometimes allows me to explain that is a Catalan name and, incidentally, do some proselytism in favor of the Catalan cause, which never hurts.

That’s the reason why the testimony and work of associations like Altres andalusos or Súmate, which was presented yesterday in Barcelona after doing it in many other cities, is so important. It makes evident that there is no fracture and shows how it is possible to desire independence of Catalonia while being a Spanish speaker. The same way it is possible to live in Catalonia without speaking any Catalan. It shows it’s possible to feel at the same time you’re Spanish and Catalan and still work for independence because you rationally believe it’s the best for your own future and that of your descendents. No matter your origin or that of your parents and grandparents, when you feel you’re part of a society, you love the land that accepts you and you start making it yours. This doesn’t mean that you reject your roots, you just grow new ones. As a son of a Catalan woman and an Andalusian man, I’m a xarnego (one of those #independentistEZ of whom Alejandro Vara was making fun of, with a Spanish last name and seeking for independence from Spain; again the wrong idea of ethnics, origin or language being a cause of distinction between those who feel themselves Catalans), and I speak both Catalan and Spanish equally fluently. I’ve been educated under the Catalan Language Immersion System that provided me full competence on both Catalan and Spanish languages, and even allowed me to acquire it in English and, at a lower level because of a lack of practice and because I didn’t learn it in school, in Portuguese.

But we must not only consider the importance of the immigrants coming from other parts of Spain, also those coming from all around the world make clear the welcoming nature of the Catalan Society, which is also very diverse in its own origins. An example might be the New Catalans Foundation, but there’s many others.

In any case, congratulations to the people of Súmate for their success and thank you for braking the false argument of the rupture, disturbing those politicians, journalists and talk show guests who still use it in their speech.

To finish, I recommend you to read an article written by Matthew Tree in 2008, not only because of the exciting synopsis of Catalonia and anti-catalanism History but because of showing the point of view of an Englishman living in Catalonia.

Interesting opinion shared by the Col·lectiu Emma on its website, calling for ‘quiet diplomacy’ of the outside actors. So far, the opinion shared by the majority of the international institutions and governments when asked about the Catalan question has been that it’s ‘Spain’s internal affair’. Understandable position if you consider the ferocious campaign that the Spanish Government is developing to show the Catalans that there’s no international support to their aspirations (it’s still definitely surprising how, even with this campaign, the answer is usually to avoid the issue instead of the categorical rejection that the Spanish Government would like). But even so, it seems quite obvious that this is not just an internal affair and, sooner or later, the possibility of an independent Catalonia will have international importance.

In any case, we can’t forget that we’re not even at this state right now. At this moment, we the Catalans only demand to be able to express our opinion in the most democratic possible way, voting. In front of those who deny the problem and are obsessed with the idea of this just being ‘an independent drift of President Mas‘ (like if he suddenly became a crazy madman with some sort of dementia, an illness sometimes tremendously contagious and sometimes just suffered by a few poor rascals), we demand to vote to demonstrate what we really want. And it’s in this matter where the International Community, specially in our political and social context, can’t remain neutral against the denial to the citizens right of expressing their opinion voting.

The problem and real heart of the matter of being able to vote or not, is the fact that voting we already demonstrate that we are a political subject with a self-identity different of that one of the rest of Spain. We demonstrate that we are in fact a Nation and that, no matter the result of the polls, would already be a victory for Catalonia.

Col·lectiu Emma is a network of Catalans and non-Catalans living in different countries who have made it their job to track and review news reports about Catalonia in the international media. Their goal is to ensure that the world’s public opinion gets a fair picture of the country’s reality today and in history.

It’s been a little bit over 5 months since I moved to live from Barcelona to Oklahoma City (it was on 09/12/2013). It’s been a hell of a change, as you can imagine. Not only because of the obvious geographic and cultural changes but also because I’ve got a completely different job (I was in banking business before and now I work at a Web Host and Domain Registrar company). I should have probably started this blog the same day I arrived to OKC or just a few days after, so I could have been talking about my everyday experiences in OKC and in the USA but I didn’t really think about it then. Actually, my idea was basically to play and mess around a little bit with WordPress. I mean, working at a Web Hosting company, at least I should have a website of my own. Anyway, the thing is, since I have to talk about something, definitely those “new life” experiences will definitely be a matter of my future posts. I’ll also write posts on books and movies recommendations and links and comments on articles and news that I think that might be interesting, specially those related to Catalonia and its future.

That is basically my personal motivation on this blog. Nothing that special, no big aspirations, just to write about what I feel, when I feel it and until I get tired of it. That’s what blogs are supposed to be for, right?